Yu Hanjiang's words made Xiao Wu's eyes widen suddenly. In his view, this was obviously an accidental case of "a female college student drinking too much and accidentally falling into the lake and drowning." However, Captain Yu analyzed the footprints and concluded that this was a carefully planned murder!
A campus murder is a very serious matter.
Xiao Wu gripped her pen tightly, adopting an eager-to-learn attitude, and asked earnestly, " Captain Yu, in a murder case, who do you think is the most likely suspect? Her roommates and counselor both said she usually has a good personality, is popular, and has never made enemies with anyone."
Yu Hanjiang took out his phone, opened the photos he had just taken at the scene, and handed them to him, saying, "Look at the words on this tree, do you notice anything wrong?"
Xiao Wu took it and examined it carefully: " Zhang Hengyu and Ning Xue will be together forever... Wait, why are the words 'forever' stained red? This color... looks like blood?"
The female forensic doctor said, " I have just tested the sample that Captain Yu brought back. It's not blood, it's red ink."
Xiao Wu paused, scratching her head as she racked her brains: "Dyeing the word 'forever' red with ink, what does that mean? Could the most suspicious person be her boyfriend, Zhang Hengyu...? What did the couple do to have a fight, so Zhang Hengyu killed her at the place where they once carved their words to pledge their love?"
The female forensic doctor took off her gloves and said to Yu Hanjiang, "I have taken samples of the hair found under the deceased's fingernails and sent them for genetic testing. We will have the results soon to see if it is related to Zhang Hengyu."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Yes, I have already sent the field team to look for the deceased's belongings, and interviews with the deceased's teachers and classmates are also underway." He paused, then turned to look at the two of them, "This case is not so simple. The murderer is very professional. You two go back and rest first. We will meet at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning for a meeting. The field team should have more clues."
The three of them left the dissection room. Yu Hanjiang went to his office alone, while Xiao Wu took a taxi home.
You couldn't get much information from this intern. Xiao Lou jumped out of his pocket the moment he got into the taxi. Liu Qiao, who had been hiding nearby, went over after spotting Xiao Lou, gently cradled the thumb-sized Professor Xiao in her palm, found a secluded corner, and whispered, " Professor Xiao, how are you?"
Xiao Lou frowned and said, "It's confirmed to be murder, but there are too few clues. I have to continue tracking Yu Hanjiang."
Liu Qiao looked worried: "Although the thumb transformation can last for a long time, Captain Yu is very alert. If I hide in his pocket, he'll easily find me, right? How can I track a professional Criminal Police Officer?"
Xiao Lou thought about it carefully and suddenly came up with an idea: "Following him in person is not very safe. Why don't I wait until he leaves, then hide in the conference room drawer, and I can sit in on their meeting to analyze the case tomorrow morning?"
Liu Qiao looked at Xiao Lou helplessly: "So, are you going to sleep in the drawer tonight?"
Xiao Lou said, "There's no other way. We have to keep up with Yu Hanjiang's progress in solving the case. All the evidence, clues, and the victim's body are currently in the Criminal Police Detachment. Without the help of the police, the two of us alone cannot find the real killer."
Liu Qiao was still a little worried. She took out her card holder and picked out three cards: one was the Witch, which could be used to take the antidote to save herself in a critical moment; the other was Light as a Swallow and Invisibility Cloak, which could be used to escape.
Liu Qiao handed the cards to Xiao Lou, saying, " Professor Xiao, these three cards are for you."
Xiao Lou looked up at her: "When did you realize my card holder wasn't with you?"
Liu Qiao said, "Just now at the lakeside, when the witnesses screamed, you ran towards the lake very slowly. I remember you had speed shoes. If you had the card, you wouldn't have been so slow. Also, you never mentioned the Invisibility Cloak."
Unexpectedly, Xiao Liu was so observant. Xiao Lou frankly said, " The card holder is indeed not on me. I don't know the specific reason, and I don't know how to explain it to you... Don't you suspect that I'm an imposter?"
Liu Qiao shook her head: "Facial expressions and movements can be acted out, but temperament is hard to imitate. I personally attended two of your classes this afternoon. You spoke very fluently and professionally, and the knowledge points were very clear. Although I don't know Professor Xiao very well, I've known him for so long, and I believe I won't misjudge him." She paused, then added: "Besides, if even you are fake, and Captain Yu and Ye Qi don't know me, then it's almost impossible for me to complete this world by myself."
Although she is only 18 years old, this girl always manages to remain calm in critical moments.
Xiao Lou was very pleased. She took the card from her and said, "Tonight I'll be hiding in the Police Station's conference room, and I'll also look for case files. You have another task. Yu Hanjiang said he sent a field team to investigate and interview people at the school. You'll secretly follow those plainclothes Criminal Police Officers and record all the information they find."
Liu Qiao nodded: "Understood."
Xiao Lou reminded him, "Be careful and take good care of yourself."
Liu Qiao said, " Professor Xiao, you are too. I'll write down your phone number; I'll contact you by text if needed."
The two exchanged phone numbers, and Xiao Lou sneaked into the Criminal Police Officers ' meeting room from the corner of the wall. When he got to the door of the meeting room, he saw Yu Hanjiang coming out of the office. The man was wearing a black coat, holding car keys, and turned around to lock the door, obviously about to leave.
Xiao Lou hid in the shadows, waiting for Yu Hanjiang's figure to disappear at the end of the corridor before slipping through the crack in the door into the conference room, jumping onto the table to search for case-related documents...
That night, Xiao Lou couldn't sleep a wink; he was very worried about which world the real Yu Hanjiang was in.
And what about CEO Shao, Ye Qi, and others? Are they safe now? He doesn't have a cardholder, so he can't check the team's contract book. Besides Liu Qiao, he has no way of knowing if there are any other teammates in this world.
Xiao Lou tossed and turned anxiously for most of the night, finally managing to get a short nap around 5 a.m.
At 7:30 in the morning, he was awakened by the sound of the door opening. Xiao Lou immediately found a corner in the drawer to hide. People came into the conference room one after another to pour water, and others turned on the projector and connected their laptops...
As more and more people gathered in the conference room, Xiao Lou dared not move.
After what seemed like an eternity, a familiar voice rang in my ears: "Is everyone here?"
Yu Hanjiang's voice was low and indifferent. He walked to the front of the conference table, sat down, and scanned the room. He said, "Alright, let's start the meeting now. Xiao Wu, please give a brief summary of the case of the female student from Jiangzhou Conservatory of Music who drowned herself on the evening of December 31st."
Xiao Wu opened his notebook and quickly read aloud: "At 9:30 PM on December 31st, we received a report that a body had been found in Liuguang Lake at Jiangzhou Music Conservatory. Captain Yu and I happened to be nearby at the time, so we drove over. The first person to discover the body was a girl named Xu Mingyue, who happened to be the deceased's roommate. Professor Xiao Lou from the neighboring Medical University and Liu Qiao, a female student from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also witnessed the discovery of the body."
"We conducted a careful examination of the scene and found a series of messy footprints on the soft, damp mud by the lake. The size and pattern of the footprints matched the shoes the deceased was wearing. On a nearby tree, the words ' Zhang Hengyu and Ning Xue will be together forever' were carved in small characters, with the word 'forever' stained red with ink. In addition, some nails were found by the roadside…"
Yu Hanjiang looked to his side: "Have the forensic results come out yet?"
The young man who met his gaze nodded and said, "These nails are very common, about 5 centimeters long screws, the same kind of nails that have appeared at the construction site near the school. It's possible that someone maliciously placed the nails by the roadside to puncture the tires of the students' bicycles."
Yu Hanjiang asked, " What about the Forensic Doctor?"
The female forensic doctor added, "The deceased died between 8:30 and 9:00 PM. There were no obvious external or internal injuries on the body. The cause of death was asphyxiation due to drowning. The deceased's blood alcohol content was above the legal limit, and stomach contents proved that she had eaten a large amount of beef within an hour before her death. In addition, the hair and skin fragments found under her fingernails, after genetic testing, were determined to be from Zhang Hengyu."
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly. He curled his fingers and tapped them rhythmically on the table, seemingly deep in thought. After a few seconds, he asked, "What were the results of the field investigation team's visits?"
The plainclothes Criminal Police Officer in charge of the fieldwork immediately reported: "Last night, our team interviewed Ning Xue's classmates. They all said Ning Xue is lively and cheerful, and they've never seen her argue with anyone. Her family is well-off, and she's never had any financial disputes with anyone. Furthermore, her roommate Chen Mengmeng revealed that she's had two boyfriends. The first was a senior from the Music Conservatory named Chen Zekai; the second was from the neighboring Medical University..." Zhang Hengyu from Forensic Medicine Department. "
A policewoman next to her added, "According to her roommate, Ning Xue had a very unpleasant breakup with her ex-boyfriend Chen Zekai. Chen Zekai harassed her for a while and was quite obsessive. He would wait for her downstairs every night, which scared Ning Xue so much that she stayed at home for a month and didn't dare to go back to her school dormitory."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "Have you managed to contact this ex?"
The policewoman shook her head: "Chen Zekai graduated this June and signed with a record company to become a singer. We checked his information. He signed up for the national singer competition recently held by Jiangzhou TV and made it to the finals."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou was taken aback— Ye Qi was also a contestant in the National Singer Competition, so he might have seen him before.
Yu Hanjiang twirled the ballpoint pen in his hand, wrote a few words in his notebook, and then asked, "Field Team Two, are there any clues about Ning Xue's belongings?"
A male police officer said, "Based on her roommate's statement, we went to the square where fireworks were set off last night and found Ning Xue's lost backpack, a red leather bag, which contained only these items."
He took the backpack out and placed it on the table, then emptied out the belongings inside.
A cell phone, a delicate little card holder holding an ID card and student ID, and then some girly items like powder compact, lipstick, and a small mirror. Yu Hanjiang checked the ID card and student ID, then tossed the phone to a colleague in the forensic department next to him: "Take a look at the phone."
The forensic team quickly unlocked the phone and handed it to Yu Hanjiang: " Captain Yu, the phone still has power."
Yu Hanjiang opened his phone, scrolled through the call logs and WeChat chat history, and frowned as he said, "She received a total of five calls yesterday. Around 6 pm, three consecutive calls from Zhang Hengyu were probably invitations to go out to dinner. The restaurant's location information is in the WeChat messages." He handed the location information to the field staff and said, "Team Two, visit this restaurant as soon as possible."
"Yes, Captain Yu."
Yu Hanjiang continued, "There were two more phone calls, one from her roommate Xu Mingyue... Did Xu Mingyue mention this in her statement?"
The Criminal Police Officer in charge of taking the statement said, " Xu Mingyue did mention that she called Ning Xue at 7 p.m. to ask what time Ning Xue would be back that night, because when she returned to her dorm after dinner, she found that Ning Xue had left without her keys."
Ning Xue's backpack indeed didn't contain any keys, so Xu Mingyue's explanation should make sense.
Yu Hanjiang nodded and continued, "The fifth call came at 9 p.m. and lasted for 5 minutes. This call was closest to the time of the deceased's death, but the number did not display a name; it was just a string of unfamiliar numbers."
"if
" It's an advertising or sales call; Ning Xue won't have the patience to talk to them for five minutes." Yu Hanjiang handed the number to the IT department and whispered, "Check."
The IT staff entered the number into the computer, and the blue characters on the screen flashed rapidly. They quickly concluded: "The owner of this number..."
Yu Hanjiang leaned over for a look, his brows furrowing sharply. He abruptly stood up and said in a low voice, "Go to Jiangzhou Medical University immediately and find Zhang Hengyu."
The second field team sensed something was wrong and hurriedly followed behind him: " Captain Yu, we can't get through to Zhang Hengyu on the phone. We couldn't contact him last night, and his roommates aren't here either. The students in the next dorm said that Zhang Hengyu's roommates went to a bar all night to celebrate the New Year, but they don't know which bar they went to."
Yu Hanjiang's face was extremely gloomy. He turned around and strode away without saying a word.
Hiding in the drawer, Xiao Lou peeked through the crack at Yu Hanjiang's pale face and suddenly had a bad feeling—could Zhang Hengyu be dead too? Who was that unfamiliar phone number from?
Everyone in the meeting room left in the blink of an eye, and Xiao Lou then secretly climbed out of the drawer.
The projection had been turned off, and all the data had been taken away. Xiao Lou couldn't see the information on the deceased's phone, so he naturally didn't know what new clues Yu Hanjiang had discovered. He frowned, activated his Lightness Skill Card, and sneaked out of the Criminal Police Officer squad along the shadows in the corner to meet up with Liu Qiao, who had come to pick him up.
Liu Qiao found a secluded corner, transformed Xiao Lou back to his original form, and asked softly, " Professor Xiao, has something happened to Zhang Hengyu? The Criminal Police Officer we visited last night couldn't reach him, and he never answers his phone."
Xiao Lou said seriously, "He's probably dead. Let's hurry back to school."